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SLAVERY 

IN CALIFORNIA AND NEW MEXICO. 



SPEECH OF MR. ORIN FOWLER, 

OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

March 11, 1850, 

IN COMMITTEE OP THE WHOLE ON THE STATE OF THE DXION, ON THE PRESIDENT'S 
MESSAGE COMMUNICATING THE CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA. 



3^^1 



Mr. FOWLER said: ^ 

Mr. Chairman : I vise with unfeigned diffidence, to express a few thoughts 
upon the subject now before this House. This diffidence springs, not from a 
want of confidence in the views I entertain, but from the consciousness of my 
inability to do justice to the subject on which I propose to speak, and of the 
superior qualifications of more experienced and more talented men. But as I 
must share with every member the responsibilities of the present crisis, I ven- 
ture to give utterance to sentiments, bearing directly and deeply upon the 
deliberations in which we are engaged. The questions that have arisen in 
coimection with California and the other Territories, recently acquired by the 
United States, involve the institutions and the destinies of large districts of 
country, ere long to become populous and powerful States of this Confederacy. 
To our hands, under Providence, is committed the responsible work of mould- 
ing these institutions and shaping these destinies ; and hence, it seems to me, 
there never has been a question pending before this House and this country, 
embracing more important or more enduring interests, than that upon which 
we are about to act. Legislation that relates to the concerns of an existing 
and organized State, may have limits to its influence. Not so that legislation 
which embodies the fundamental principles, incorporated into the very frame- 
work, on which rest the institutions of communities, destined to exist, and to 
exert influences for good or for evil, on generations yet unborn. In the former 
case, if legislation be weak, or wicked, subsequent acts may modify, or check, 
or remove the evil. In the latter case, no constitutional legislation can erad- 
icate the mischief. To us is allotted the woi"k of adopting the organic princi- 
ples, and framing the fundamental laws, of free and independent States. On 
no legislative body were ever devolved duties more important — responsibilities 
more solemn. In the present posture of our public afiairs, it becomes us with 
firmness and discretion to consult, not our passions, but our judgment. No 
good ever comes, either in private or public affairs, by rousing the passions. 

Mr. Chairman, I have no sympathy with any man who repudiates the Con- 
stitution of our common country. By that Constitution — much as I could 
desire that, in a few particulars, it were otherwise — I abide, both in its letter 
and in its spirit. As the letter of it forbids us from interfering directly with 

Buell £r Blanchard, Printers. 






slavery in the States, under wliose exclusive jurisdiction it is sanctioned, so 
the spirit of it forbids us from extending slavery over one rod of territory 
Avhere freedom is enjoyed. 

The plea of the slaveholder, that it is unjust and unequal to shut him and 
his slave property out of territory acquired by the blood and treasure of the 
vhole country, is unfounded. It overlooks that great fact, that human 
slavery is in opposition to natural right and common law, and that, existing 
only by municipal regulations, it entitles to no privileges beyond the jurisdic- 
tion of those regulations. But, you say, the exclusion of slavery from the 
new territories will be followed by a dissolution of the Union. I say, I do 
not believe it — I do not believe it, because I do not believe there would, in 
that event, be any just cause for a dissolution of the Union ; and I do not 
believe the people will take that terrible step without just cause. As for 
the rulers — especially the present incumbents, including our honorable 
selves — we have no power, and no authority whatever, to do that abomina- 
"ble deed. Should any be so insane and so reckless as to attempt it, they 
will soon discover their folly and their impotency, and have liberty to retire 
into the shades of obscurity. The people love the Union, and will adhere 
to it. The Union has made them a prosperous and powerful nation. They 
look back with joy upon the glorious past, and forward with hope to the 
yet more glorious future. The i)olitical, slaveholding cry of disunion, is an 
old argument for extending slavery, by exciting the fears of cowing doughfa- 
ces. It should be treated as a threadbare humbug. This Union cannot be 
dissolved by three hundred thousand slaveholders, (about the present number 
now in the Southern States,) provided its true friends are true to themselves 
and to the country. The Union is cemented and fortified, not only by its 
Constitution, and by its institutions of agriculture, and art, and commerce, 
and education, and religion, but by the clear-headed, strong-handed, lion- 
hearted poAver of the Americo-Anglo-Saxon people. Standing firm upon the 
principles of freedom and of the Constitution;- if perchance the disruption of 
the Union should follow, we shall enjoy the unspeakable solace of an appro- 
ving conscience ; whereas, if by our consent the Avoes and wrongs of slavery 
shall be extended into territory now free, the sting of self-reproach, and the 
consciousness of wrong-doing, would embitter what remains of mortal life — 
and between doing wrong and suffering wrong, true patriots will not hesitate 
to choose the latter. To extend slavery — American slavery — (the worst kind 
of slavery that ever existed on the face of the globe, since Adam fell) — into 
territory now free, is a wrong done to humanity — to the rights of human- 
ity, to the friends of humanity. We cannot, we will not, do it, come what 

may. 

On the subject now before us, I will confine my remarks to the considera- 
tion of a few practical topics. 

The great principle on which the framers of the Constitution, 
BOTH North and South, acted, was, that Slavery should not be ex- 
tended beyond the States in which it then existed, and that its final 
removal from the nation would not be long delayed. 

The compromises of the Constitution, whatever they were, embraced an 
interchange of obligations. The North said to the South, we will allow you 
to itursue", recover, and convey back, your slaves, if, being fugitives, they 
are found on our soil. The South said to the North, as an offset, we iv'ill 
not ask to extend slavery into the common territorial possessions of the 
Union, and we will agree to terminate the slave trade in 1808. This was 
the chief compromise of the Constitution, and the great principle on which 



its framers and the people at large acted. If I sliall succeed in establishing 
the position I have taken, it will follow that the violations of constitutional 
compromises are all chargeable to slaveholders, and that the people of the 
free States, in opposing the extension of slavery, and insisting that the prin- 
ciple of the Ordinance of 1787 (commonly called the Wilmot Proviso) shall 
be applied to all territory now free, are standing upon high ground — ground 
occupied by all parties to our national compact, when that compact was 
formed. To the proof of this position, I now proceed. 

I take my first proof from the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 
1776: 

'• We hold (say the fathers of the RepuWic) these truths to be self-evident : that all men 
■(blacks as Avell as whites) are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights ; that among them are life, hberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; 
and that to secure these rights. Governments are instituted among men." 

To the support of these great principles of liberty and equality for all men, 
the signers of that declaration, representing the thirteen United States, with 
a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, mutually pledged 
to each other '"their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." This 
pledge was made by the Representatives of all the States. To maintain and 
establish these principles of liberty and equality for all men in this nation, 
the war of the Revolution was waged, and its blood and treasure expended. 

To show that this declaration of liberty and equality for all, was intended 
to apply to the colored people, as well as the white people, and that it looked 
to the early termination of slavery, I refer to a few, of many testiuionials,_ of 
the sentiments of the prominent men who were first and foremost in making 
and supporting it. In the Federal Convention that formed the Constitution, 
Gouverneur Morris said : 

'' He never would concur in upholding domestic slavery. It was a nefarious institution. 
It was the curse of Heaven on the States where it prevailed. * * * * Upon what 
principle is it, that the slaves shall be computed in the representation? Are they men? 
Then make them citizens, and let them vote. Are they property ? Why, then, is no other 
property included? * * * * The admission of slaves into representation, when fairly 
explained, comes to this : that the inhabitant of C4eorgia and South Carolina, who goes to 
the coast of Africa, and, in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity, tears away his 
fellow-creatures from their dearest connections, and damns them to the most cruel bondage, 
shall have more votes in a Government, instituted for the protection of the rights of man- 
kind, than the citizen of Pennsylvania, or New Jersey, who views with a laudable horror 
so nefarious a practice. * * * * And what is the proposed compensation to the 
Northern States, for a sacrifice of every principle of right, of every impulse of humanity? " — 
Vide Madison Papers, Vol. Ill, pp. r263-'4. 

Colonel George Mason, of Virginia, said : 

"' Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The slaves produce the most pernicious 
effects on manners. Everv master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judg- 
ment of Heaven on a couiitry. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished m the next 
world, thev must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence 
punishes national sins by national calamities. I hold it essential, in every point ot view, 
that the General Government should have power to prevent the increase ot slavery. — 
Vide Madison Papers, Vol. HI, p. 1391. 

Said Mr. Ellsworth, of Connecticut t 

" Slavery, in time, will not be a speck in our country." — Same Volume, p. 1392. 

Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, said : 

" He was opposed to a tax on slaves, because it implied they were property."— Dif^o, 
p. 1896. 

This is a specimen of the noble sentiments that _ were entertained and ex- 
pressed by the patriotic men who formed the Constitution. 



I take my second proof from tlie Ordinance of 1787. 

The war of independence being closed, Virginia and other States conveyed 
to the United States, as their joint and common property, the territory north- 
west of the Ohio. By the Ordinance of July 18, 1787, slavery was forever 
excluded from that territor}-. The Ordinance was passed unanimously, as to 
States ; and, with a single exception, unanimously as to individual members ; 
and that exception was Mr. Yates, of New York. It Avas a unanimous decis- 
ion of the whole country against the extension of slavery. The sixth article 
of the Ordinance reads thus : 

" There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, other- 
wise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted : 
Proi'i<{ed, always, That any person escaping into the same, from Avhom labor or service is 
lawfully claimed, in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaim- 
ed, and conveyed to tlie person claiming his or her labor or service, as aforesaid." 

This sixth article stipulates two things — first, that slavery shall never be 
extended into the Northwest Territory ; and secondly, that fugitives may be 
lawfully reclaimed. This was the great compromise upon which was based 
the formation of our existing Constitution. By the Ordinance it was settled 
that slavery should be forever excluded from the Northwest Territory. 
By the Ordinance it was settled that fugitives in that territory might be 
reclaimed. And freedom being thus secured by the Ordinance, it was pro- 
vided by the Constitution, that the guaranties for the recovery of fugitives^ 
made by the Ordinance, should extend to all the States — as well to the old 
States, as to those to be formed out of new territory. The non-extension of 
slavery was secured by the Ordinance passed the same year — perhaps the 
same month — the Constitution was formed ; and the compromise settled by 
those simultaneous decrees was, non-extension of slavery on the one side — 
reclamation of fugitives on the other. The recovery of fugitives only binds 
the free States to suffer it to be done — so the Supreme Court has decided. 
That tribunal held, that the power to secure fugitives from service to be 
delivered up, is a power to be exercised only under the authority of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States. This provision for the recovery of fugitives, 
thus understood, is sufficiently humiliating to republicans. It should be here, 
as in our father-land, that whoever treads our soil, wears no chains ; whoever 
breathes our air is a freeman. 

My third proof is found in the main design of the Constitution. That 
design is thus stated in the preamble: " We, the people of the United States, 
ordain this Constitution, in order to establish justice, and secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." 

l^y the Declaration of Independence, it was affirmed that all men " were 
created equal," and "were endowed by their Creator with the inalienable 
rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." That declaration had been 
maintained by the blood and treasure of patriotic men; and now, "to estab- 
lish the principles of justice," and secure "the blessings of liberty" to all 
the people of this nation, the Constitution was ordained and adopted. To 
secure justice," and " the blessings of liberty" to all — this was the noble 
design of organizing this Government upon its republican basis. Slavery 
in principle and in practice conflicts Avith this design. It neither secures 
justice nor the blessings of libert3\ It subverts and destroys them. It makes 
a rational and immortal man, property. It crushes Avhatever is noble in 
humanity ])eneath its leaden chains. It binds in fetters of iron, the mind as 
well as the body. It silences the first waking of intellect in its haplcvss 
victim, as though it were the signal of insurrection. You speak of the pro- 



vision which shivery makes for the physical necessities of its victim, as a real 
mitigation of his burning wrongs. This is cruel. You plead his apparent hap- 
piness as an alleviation of his degraded condition, when it is conceded he must 
first be stripped of liberty before he can rejoice in bondage. This is worse 
than cruelty. The extension of slavery into new territory, indeed its con- 
tinuance anywhere, is in direct and open conflict with the paramount design 
of the Constitution, and cannot be countenanced by the consistent friends and 
supporters of that charter of our rights. 

My fourth proof is found in the constitutional provision against the impor- 
tation of slaves after the year 1808. At the time the Constitution was form- 
ed and adopted, the slave power was a hesitating petitioner for license to exist 
only for a season. It was the common sentiment of the country, and of the 
world, that if the slave-trade were abolished, slavery would languish, and soon 
die out. Clarkson, Wilberforce, and others, in England — Franklm, Rush, 
Rittenhouse, Jay, Sherman, and others, in this country — were full and firm in 
this opinion. They, and the fathers generally, believed, that by cutting ofi" 
the foreign supply, and thus drying up the fountain, the effect would be, the 
speedy termination of slavery. Hence it was deemed, that a great point for 
freedom was gained by clothing Congress with constitutional power to prohibit 
the foreign slave trade. It was regarded, both North and South, as clothing 
the Government with authority to secure the entire removal of slavery from the 
nation. Hence the word slave, Avas designedly kept out of the Constitution, 
that in after ages, when slaver}^ should be done away, no trace of its existence 
should leave its foul stain upon that noble instrument. 

Mr. Madison said in the Convention : 

" I think it wrong to admit the idea, in the Constitution, that there can be property in 
man." 

In so saying, he only echoed the sentiments of other members. 

Said Mr. Iredell, of North Carolina, in the Convention of that State, when 
the adoption of the Constitution was opposed, on the ground of this clause re- 
lating to the slave-trade : 

" When the entire abolition of slavery takes place, it will be an event which must be 
pleasing to every generous mind and every friend of human nature." — Elliott's Debates. 

Mr. Wilson, of Pennsjdvania, speaking of this clause, said : 
" I consider it as laying the foundation for banishing slavery out of the land. The new 
States, that are to be formed, will be under the control of Congress in this particular, and 
slaves will never be introduced among them." — Vide Elliotfs Debates. 

In 1789, Hon. Josiah Parker, a member of the first Congress under the 
Constitution, from Virginia, speaking with reference to this article of the Con- 
stitution, said : 

" He hoped Congress would do all in their power to restore to human nature its inhe- 
rent privileges, and, if possible, wipe off the stigma which America labored under. The 
mconsistency of our principles, with which we are justly charged, should be done away, 
that we may show by our actions, the pure beneficence of the doctrine we held out to the 
world in our Declaration of Independence." 

Such were the publicly avowed sentiments of a man whom Virginia five 
times re-elected to Congress. 

Colonel Bland, of the same State, said : 

" He wished slaves had never been introduced into America ; but as it Avas impossible, 
at this time, to cure the evil, he was very willing to join in any measures that would pre- 
vent its extending further! " 

This is only a specimen of the avowed opinions of the leading men of that 
period. It was under the influence of such opinions that the Constitution 



was formed. All parties believed and agreed, that, after 1808, slavery was 
soon to retire from the land. They all intended to carry out the Declaration 
of Independence, and cause this to be a land of freedom for all people. They 
were willing slavery should exist for a period, that it might prepare itself to 
die ; but they no more intended the perpetuity of human slavery in this free 
Republic, than they intended to put again upon their necks the yoke of des- 
potism which they had broken. I need not stop here to show that the inter- 
diction of the African slave-trade has secured the entire home-market _ to the 
domestic slave breeder, and thus operated, unexpectedly, to keep the institu- 
tion of slavery alive — for this does not affect the argument. 

Mr. Chairman, I submit that it is thus proved — from the Declaration of 
Independence — from the Ordinance of 1787 — from the design of the Consti- 
tution — and from the clause interdicting the slave-trade after 1808, that the 
framers of the Constitution, both North and South, and the people who 
adopted it, acted upon the principle that slavery was not to be extended be- 
yond the States in Avhicli it then existed, and that its final removal would not 
be long delayed. 

This great principle, I proceed to show, has been faithfully observed and 
carried out at the North, and entirely violated at the South. How was it at 
the North 1 Let history answer. She had slaves, but she treated them a& 
men, physically, intellectually, morally. She believed that man is not a ma- 
chine to be driven by wind or steam ; nor a beast to be urged to his task, by 
the goad or the spear ; nor a slave to crouch like Issachar, between two bur- 
dens, and come and go at the bidding of another ; but that every man is a. 
man, and has the rights of a man ; and accordingly, the work of emancipa- 
tion at the North was commenced and nearly finished, before the year 1808 
arrived. Massachusetts abolished slavery within her limits in 1780 ; and when 
she formed her Constitution, she embodied the act of abolition in her bill of 
rights. New Hampshire followed her example in 1792, and Vermont in 1793. 
Pennsylvania passed laws for the gradual extinction of slavery in 1780, Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island in 1784, New York in 1799 and 1817, and New 
Jersey in 1804. Maine, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin,_ and 
Iowa, never recognised the existence of slavery within their borders, as inde- 
pendent States. The principles of the Constitution were thus carried out, in 
good faith, by the North, and the final removal of slavery from her borders 
was completed more than thirty years ago. 

How^ was it with the South ? Sixty years have rolled away since the Con- 
stitution was adopted ; and wdiat has the South done to carry out the princi- 
ples of human liberty and equal justice, embodied in the Declaration and in, 
the Constitution ? What has she done to secure justice and the blessings of 
liberty to all who are surrounded by the ensigns of a people that never cease 
their boast of freedom. Immediately after the adoption of the Constitution^ 
societies for the abolition of slavery were organized in Virginia, Maryland, 
North Carolina, perhaps other Southern States — in which societies, some of 
the very men who formed the Constitution, including, it is believed, Wash- 
ington and Jefferson, were actually engaged ; and for a course of years, 
there seemed ground of hope that, in no long time, all the States would be 
free, and the banner of liberty would wave over every section of the Repub- 
lic. The year 1808 arrived : the slave-trade was abolished by the act of 
Congress. That done, twelve years passed : they were years of progress in 
agriculture, in the arts, in knowledge, in education, in everything that giyes 
strength and wealth and hope to a people, anxious to plant the seeds of lib- 
erty and justice, with the corner-stones of all their institutions. 



A new crisis came : Missouri applied for admission into the Union as a 
State. The application, after a long and anxious struggle, was successful. 
Missouri was admitted as a slave State in 1820, and in the act providing for 
the admission, there was a clause inserted, usually, but falsely, termed a com- 
promise. This clause provided, that in all that territory ceded by France to 
the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36 degrees 
30 minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of the State contem- 
plated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude " should be forever prohib- 
ited." The designs of the pro-slavery members were developed in the act ad- 
mitting Missouri, to the astonishment not only of the North, but of the Nations. 
The act provided for organizing a slave State, out of territory lying north of 
36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude ; and then, having secured this State 
to slavery, it promises not to do so again. The act is silent about territory 
south of that parallel. The implication is, that there slavery may go. This 
act was resisted by the free North,, as a flagrant violation of the fundamental 
principles of the Declaration of Independence, of the Constitution, and of the 
fair understanding of all parties in the begimiing. It was finally carried by a 
few votes from the free States. The men who gave these votes were justly 
branded by the member from Roanoke, Doughfaces — and they received their 
reward. They lost caste with all consistent friends of constitutional libtat'ty, 
and soon sunk away into contemptuous obscurity. Their deserved doom may 
well be regarded as a warning to all Doughfaces who desert their constituency, 
and disregard the principles of the Declaration and the Constitution. 
The friends of liberty and right, everywhere in the free States, were alarmed 
and aroused. They repudiated the act, as a compromise, and have continued 
to repudiate it to this day. Here was the beginning of our present perplex- 
ities. 

Again : about that time, a course of oppressive and unconstitutional legis- 
lation was commenced in South Carolina, and soon imitated by several other 
slave States, which has thus far been persisted in. That system of legislation 
assumes the right of a State to seize, at her sole discretion, a citizen of Mas- 
sachusetts, or of the other free States, and cast him into prison, without 
alleging against him the commission of any crime, and solely because he is 
found engaged in his lawful business, on board of a ship touching at her port. 
It assumes the right not only to imprison, but to sell into returnless bondage, 
human beings, born in freedom — unoffending — entitled, by the Constitution 
not only of Massachusetts, but of the United States, to the fullest security of 
life, liberty, and property, as well when following a lawful business on ship- 
board, as when at home.' It assumes the right of a State to refuse to submit 
her legislative acts to be judged by the Supreme Court — the tribunal desig- 
nated by the Constitution as the final arbiter of the constitutionality of such 
acts. And it goes yet further, and claims the prerogative of punishing by 
fine and imprisonment, a citizen from another State, who questions the validity 
of such legislation, and seeks, in a lawful manner, to test it before the consti- 
tuted tribunals. All this is in defiance of the plain and express stipulations 
of the Constitution of the United States. When our fathers remonstrated 
against the oppressions of the .mother country, in 1774, '' they held it essential 
to English liberty, that no man be condemned unheard, or punished for sup- 
posed offences, without having an opportunity of making his defence." In the 
list of offences charged upon George and his ministers, there is not one so 
arbitrary and oppressive as these acts committed upon some of my constituents, 
in consequence of this Southern legislation. And now, the only answer we 
receive to our protests against these oppressions is, that the North is aggres- 



sive, and tlic Union is in danger. Let me tell gentlemen, that these uncon- 
stitutional and cruel acts have aroused the indignation of the people of every 
free State in this Union. This it is that has kindled a flame that many waters 
cannot quench. 

Again : if the historians who have recorded the facts are reliable — and I 
know of- no reason for doubting — the war with some five thousand Indians in 
Florida— ^a war which lasted seven years, and cost the nation thirty millions 
of dollars, and many thousand lives — was engendered by the aggressive de- 
mands of slavery. 

Again : the annexation of Texas, the Mexican war, and the acquisition of 
California and New Mexico, and all our present agitations and alienations, 
and gloomy and perilous anticipations, are the fruits of the slavery-extension 
spirit and policy. The acquisition of these countries, and the whole expen- 
diture of treasure, and life, and principle, which they have cost, as well as 
all the evils that threaten us, or are upon us, or are yet to come, be they as 
they may, and what they may, even though they continue a hundred or a 
thousand years, and though they should involve the total subversion and final 
overthrow of the Republic, and bring upon this beauteous and blessed land 
a despotism more cruel and more relentless than any that has yet cursed the 
earth — and though in the progress of scenes thus developed, our valleys, now 
covered with corn, should be wet Avith the blood of our children, and wailing 
and Avoe should everyAvhero resume the places of mirth and bliss — all, all^ all, 
will be chargeable to the spirit and the policy, that for a quarter of a centu- 
ry have been seeking and working the extension of the area of slavery. The 
acquisition of Texas and the Mexican provinces should always be united to- 
gether as one afl[\iir. The annexation was the cause of the war ; and the re- 
sult of the war is, we have Texas, New Mexico, and California. These ac- 
quisitions have not been the work of a day — twenty-five years have been occu- 
pied upon it. And it is this work that has aroused the free people of the free 
States, so that one pulse beats from Maine to Oregon : it is the pulse of lib- 
erty — liberty for man — liberty for every man, Avhose domicil is on soil now 
free. The sole, the acknowledged, the avowed purpose of acquiring Texas, 
California, and New Mexico, was to extend the boundaries of slavery and the 
power of slaveholders. Among other avowals of the Southern press, I will 
quote two or three. Said the Charleston Patriot : 

" We trust that our Southern Representatives will remember that this is a Southern 
war." 

Said the Charleston Courier : 

" Every battle fought in Mexico, and every dollar spent there, but insures the acquisi- 
tion of territory, which must Aviden the field ot' Southern enterprise and power for the fu- 
ture, and the final result will be, to adjust the whole balance of power in the Confederacy, 
so as to give us the control over the operations of the Government in all time to come." 

Here Ave have the truth, the Avhole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

That Avar, to secure the acijuisition of Texas and the Mcxicait provinces, 
made and sustained for the purj^ose of extending the area and the influence of 
slavery, Avas most destructive of human life, and most expensive of national 
treasure. No estimate that I have seen puts the number of lives at less than 
twenty thousand. The direct pecuniary expenditures Averc not less than one 
hundred millions of dollars. The indirect expenditures, including the money 
to be paid Mexico for the ceded territory, the claims for bounty land, the in- 
terest to be paid, for many years, on borrOAvcd money, and the drafts for 
pensions, and various indemnities for losses and injuries, all of Avhich Avill not 
be paid in fifty years — these A\ill equal another hundred millions. Tavo hun- 



dred millions of dollars, and twenty thousand lives — to say nothing of a great 
multitude of other evils — all expended for the extension of slave territory, 
and the perpetuitj^ of slave power ! This — this it is, that has aroused the 
North, and nerved them anew for liberty and right. Should California and 
New Mexico be surrendered to the demands of slavery, their acquisition must 
be regarded as a direful calamity by all who hold slavery to be alike hostile 
to the benevolence of God, and the happiness of man. 

The idea recently promulged, that Massachusetts was indiiferent about the 
annexation of Texas, with slave territory, to this Union, is a great mistake. 
The people of that State were aroused to a very high degree, in opposition to 
the measure. Delegates from all parties and all parts of the State, met in 
Convention, in Faneuil Hall, to protest solemnly against it ; a distinguished 
jurist — Hon. Judge Williams — was its President. I was a member of that 
Convention. Among other resolutions passed, was this : 

" Resolved, That there is no constitutional power in any branch of the Government, or 
all the branches of the Government, to annex a foreign State to this Union." 

The Legislature of that State passed resolutions, of which this is one : 
" Resolved, That the people of Massachusetts will never consent to use the powers re- 
served to themselves, to admit Texas, or any other State or Territory now without the 
Union, on any other basis than the perfect equahty of freemen ; and that while slavery or 
slave representation forms any part of the claim or condition of admission, Texas, with her 
consent, can never be admitted." 

And what possible claim have slaveholders to California and New Mexico 1 
They have possession of Texas, and this is double their share of the plunder. 
In justice to the free people of the country, they ought, in all fairness, to re- 
linquish to freedom a part of that State. 

The free States have a territory of 454,340 square miles. The slave 
States, including Texas, have a territory of 936,318 square miles. If Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico, comprising 526,078 square miles, are admitted as 
free States, the slaveholders will still have more than their fair and just pro- 
portion of the country. 

Again, sir : The honorable member from Florida, [Mr. Cabell,] in his 
recent speech, inquires, "■ What possible evil can be done by extending sla- 
very ?" Let us see : The free States have double the population of the free 
peeple of the slave States. And no law can pass the Senate — and no law 
can be passed by this Government — without the concurrence of slaveholders. 
They have a veto on every resolution, and every measure, and if " every man 
has his price," they thus possess the means of paying it. Appointments are 
made by the President, with the concurrence of the Senate. Of course, 
slaveholders have a veto on every appointment, and no man can be appointed 
to office but by their approval ; and it has always been so. Slaveholders rule 
the nation, and have always ruled it. At this moment they have the Presi- 
dent, and the Cabinet, and the Speaker, and the important committees in 
both Houses, and the Supreme Court, and the foreign ministers, and the offi- 
cers of the army and of the navy. If the present incumbent serves his full 
term, they will have had the Presidents fifty-two years, and the North but 
twelve years and one month. Slaveholders have held the post of Secretary 
of State more than two-thirds of the time. Of the Judges of the Supreme 
Court, they have had eighteen, and the North fourteen. In 1842 we were 
represented at foreign courts by nineteen ministers and charges d'affaires — 
thirteen of whom were slaveholders ; and this has been about the usual pro- 
portion. 

Again : the South have a preponderating influence, arising from inequality 



10 

of representation. Each of the members of this House, from Massachusetts,, 
represents (according to the census of 1840) 73,760 persons. This is about 
the average representation from the free States ; whereas, each of the mem- 
bers from Georgia represents less than 50,000 free persons, and each member 
from South Carohna less than 40,000 free persons ; and on an average, each 
member from all the slave States represents less than 65,000 free people. 
The balance of their constituency is their slave property. This property,, 
amounting, as the honorable gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. Toombs,] states, 
to fifteen hundred millions of dollars, is represented on this floor by about- 
twenty members. We may very properly inquire with Mr. Morris, upon 
what principle it is, that slaves are computed in the representation? If they 
are men, then let them be treated like citizens, and vote like other citizens ; 
if they are property, then let Northern property have equal privileges. Nor 
is this all. The political influence exercised in the election of the Chief 
Magistrate, shows an immense disparity in favor of slaveholders. The ope- 
ration of the rule of Federal numbers, by which five slaves (claimed by slave- 
holders as their property) are counted as three freemen, produces results 
worthy of special notice. Take the election of 1848 as an example of other 
Presidential elections. Two hundred and ninety electors were chosen — 169 
from the free States, and 121 from the slave States. The popular vote in the 
free States was, 2,029,551, giving to each elector, 12,007 votes. The popu- 
lar vote in the slave States was, 845,050, giving to each elector, 7,545 votes. 
South Carolina is not taken into this account, as she chooses electors by the 
Legislature. Tliis disparity is seen more clearly, by examining the returns 
of several of the States. New York gave 455,761 votes, and chose 36 elec- 
tors. Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, gave 242,547 votes, and chose 
36 electors. Ohio gave 328,489 votes, and chose 23 electors. Delaware, 
Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, gave 237,811 
votes, and chose 38 electors. This shows the disproportionate share of 
influence enjoyed by slaveholders in choosing the President ; and yet, in 
every speech they make upon this floor, now-a-days, the cry is rung and reit- 
erated — Inequality, injustice. Northern aggression ! and now, unless they can 
have further indulgences, they threaten to dissolve the Union. Verily, the 
plain English of this slaveholding alternative is rule or ruin. 

Again : why, say Southern gentlemen, should the North care for slavery ? 
I ask, why should the North not care for it ? While in this Republic — 
whose boast of freedom grows louder and louder constantly — I say, while 
here the dissolution of the Union is stoutly threatened, unless we will 
extend and perpetuate slavery, its condemnation has been decreed elsewhere 
by the voice not only of the civilized, but of the semi-civilized, Avorld. In 
Austria — yes, royal Austria, despotic Austria — it was " declared, in 1826, 
by an ordinance of his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor, that any slave, from 
the moment he treads the soil of the imperial and royal dominions of Aus- 
tria, or even merely steps on board an Austrian vessel, shall be free." 

Several of the Spanish provinces of South America, extending from the- 
Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, having thrown off" the yoke of the mother coun- 
try, in 1828, " proclaimed freedom to all the slaves." 

The British Government, in 1S34, by a single act, proclaimed freedom to 
her eight hundred thousand slaves in the British West Indies. 

In 1846, the Bey of Tunis, at the head of two millions of people, declared 
his sovereign pleasure in these terms : 

"The servitude imposed on a part of tlie human kind, whom God has created, is a very 
cniel tiling, and our heart shrinks from it. Now, therefore, Ave have thought proper to 



11 

publish, that we have abolished man-slavery throughout our dominions, inasmuch as we 
regard all slaves who are on our territory as free, and do not recognise the legality of their 
being kept as property." 

In 1848, the King of Denmark proclaimed, " that all vinfree in Danish 
West India Islands are from to-day (July 3d) emancipated." 

In France, in 1848 — when the King had been driven from his throne, and 
the nation was emancipated — the first important act that followed, was to 
strike off the chains from the limbs of the slaves, in the remotest portions 
of the Republic. 

We turn to Mexico. A decree was issued in September, 1829, by General 
Guea-rero, the President, for the entire abolition of slavery. That decree 
contains these memorable words : 

" Being desirous to signalize the anniversary of Independence by an act of national jus- 
tice and beneficence, which may redound to the advantage and support of so inestimable a 
good — which may tend to the aggrandizement of the Republic, and which may reinstate 
an unfortunate portion of its inhabitants in the sacred rights which nature gave them, and 
the nation should protect by wise and wholesome laws — I, the President, have resolved to 
decree, that slavery is, and shall remain, abolished in this Republic." 

Noble decree ! set forth in noble terms. In 1837, April 5th, the General 
Congress of Mexico passed a law in these words : 

" Slavery is abolished, without any exception, in the whole Republic." 

In the Constitution of Mexico, adopted and promulgated June 12th, 1843, 
the subject of slavery is thus disposed of : 

" No one is a slave in the territory of the nation, and any introduced shall be considered 
free." 

The application of the principles of the Ordinance of 1787 to all her territo- 
ries, was made by Mexico herself, prior to the cession under the treaty of 
Guadalupe Hidalgo. I believe we, as her successor, are bound by interna- 
tional law — by the law of justice — by the law of kindness — by the law of 
prudence — by the law of expediency, to apply this principle now, seeing the 
ceded territories are part of the free territories of the United States. The 
complaint, that, by applying it to New Mexico, we taunt the South, comes 
with no good grace from the counsellors of a free Republic. 

Mr. Chairman, I am resolved to apply the Proviso to that territory — not to 
injure any one's feelings, nor to wound any one's pride — but because it is 
constitutional and right, and, as I judge, eminently a prudent and practical 
measure. The application of this principle to the Northwest Territory, was 
a prudent and practical measure. I believe its application to California and 
New Mexico, will be no less so. Without the application, Illinois — noble Il- 
linois — would have been a slave State. She did but just escape being so, 
with the Proviso upon her. If it be not applied to California and New Mex- 
ico, in my opinion, they, in no long time, will be slave States. I will, there- 
fore, vote to apply it to both of them, and to all other free territory, wherever, 
and as often, as the occasion occurs. 

The syren song of no Wilniot Proviso for New Mexico, is calculated to 
bring in that Territory as a slave State. The only hope of freedom there, is 
in the application of the Proviso in the first organic law. The idea that 
slavery is limited by mountains or plains, by soil or climate, by occupation or 
latitude, is an absurdity. Were slaves allowed in Californiaor New Mexico, 
any one conversant with the history of the last sixty years, will see that those 
countries would be overrun with slavery in a twelvemonth. The honorable 
member from Virginia, [Mr. Meade,] frankly declares, in his speech : 

" But for the fear of robbery under the forms of law, there would be at least fifty thou- 



12 

sand slaves in California by the first of December. It is the best field for such labor now 
in America, and it would be invaluable to us as a means of thinning the black population. 
When people say that the climate and productions are unsuited to slave labor, they are 
either endeavoring to deceive, or are deceived themselves." 

Mr. Chairman, I am willing — yea more, I am resolved — to use the first, 
the second, and every occasion, to apply the Proviso of '87 to every acre of 
free territory we now possess, or may possess. I would apply it to territory, 
lie where it may — to Greenland, Nova Zembla, Cuba, Yucatan, the Arctic and 
Antarctic regions, and to the Torrid Zone — to any and every part of the 
earth's surface, if it belonged to the United States. If a bill for organizing 
any territory is reported to this House, without the Proviso, Avhile I have, the 
honor of a seat in it, I will move and vote for its insertion. Every member 
has a right to his own judgment. This right belongs to others — it belongs 
to me. I have formed my judgment of the value, and necessity, and consti- 
tutionality of the Ordinance of '87, deliberately — I have avowed it frankly. 
And now, alone, or not alone — sink or swim — live or die — let who will aban- 
don it, I will adhere to it. I will adhere to it in all places — at all times — 
under all circumstances. In no case will I participate in extending the slave 
power into free territory. No, never ! In no case will I participate in with- 
holding the Ordinance of '87 from free territory. No, never ! 

Again : gentlemen put their defence of slavery upon the Bible — they grasp 
the horns of the altar, as if fleeing from the terrors of the avenger's arm. 
The honorable gentleman from Florida [Mr. Cabell] states, that the angel 
directed Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah, to return and submit herself to her 
mistress, which he seems to consider conclusive. Why did he not state the 
fact, that soon after her return, Abraham, by command of God, emancipated 
her and her son ? 

The honorable gentleman from Alabama, [Mr. Inge,] speaking of slavery, 
says : 

" It would seem to be profanation to call an institution of society irreligious or immoral, 
which is expressly and repeatedly sanctioned by the word of God — which existed in the 
tents of the patiiarchs, and in the households of his chosen people." 

An honorable Senator, [Mr. Davis, of Mississippi,] in a speech recently 
delivered, says : 

" I do not propose to discuss the justice or injustice of slavery as an abstract proposition. 
* * * * It is enough for me to know that it Avas established by decree of Almighty 
God — that it is sanctioned in the Bible — in both Testaments — from Genesis to Revelation." 

The meaning, obviously, of the gentlemen Avho thus speak, is, that slavery, 
as it exists in some of these States, is sanctioned by the Bible, and is in ac- 
cordance with the all-wise decree of the Omnipotent and Holy God. Here 
I take issue with the gentlemen ; I deny most unequivocally, that slavery, as 
it exists in these States, is sanctioned in the Scriptures, or supported by Di- 
vine authority. And I shrink not from the opportunity to make this denial 
here on tliis floor, and to pledge myself to make it good. Slavery — I mean 
American slavery — is condemned by the doctrines, commandments, and pre- 
cepts of the word of God ; and whenever the teachings of this book are ob- 
served and obeyed, slavery, in its American form, will cease. If we would 
know whether the Bible sanctions American slavery, we must know what Amer- 
ican slavery is. A constituent element is one thing, a relation is another 
thing, an appendage is another. What is the intrhisic, the unchanging, the 
essential element of American slavery? I answer, American slavery reduces 
man — a man created free, and equal to all other men — it reduces him to 
property. It makes free, moral agents, chattels. It converts persons into 



13 

things — it sinks a rational creature into merchandise. An American slave 
can own nothing — can acquire nothing. Slavery annuls his right to himself. 
If he uses these terms — my hands, my eyes, my tongue, my body, my mind, 
myself— they are mere figures of speech. If an American slave uses himself 
for his own benefit, he commits a crime. If he keeps and appropriates what 
he earns, he is thereby a thief. To take his own body into his own keeping, 
is insurrection ; and death must be his doom for the deed, if he persevere. 
American slavery subjects men like ourselves, to be bartered, mortgaged, 
bequeathed, invoiced, shipped in cargoes, stored as other goods, taken on exe- 
cution, as are cattle, and knocked off at public auction. It makes a man's 
rights — a man's deathless nature — a man's conscience, affections, sympathies, 
hopes — a marketable commodity. It robs him, not of privileges, but of him- 
self. It loads him, not with burdens, but makes him a beast of burden. It 
restrains not liberty — it subverts it. It does not curtail rights — it abolishes 
them. In a word, American slavery sinks man into a machine — annihilates 
personality — despoils a human being of rational attributes — unmans a man» 
Such is American slavery. Lest the above definition of American slavery 
may seem overdrawn, I quote from the statutes of two of the slave States > 
The law in South Carolina, reads thus : 

'* Slaves shall be deemed, held, taken, reputed, and adjudged, in law, to be chattels per- 
sonal, in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and 
assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes, whatsoever." — Brenvard's Digest, 229. 

" A slave is one who is in the power of a master, to whom be belongs ; the master may 
sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labor ; he can do nothing, possess 
nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to his master." — Civil Code of Lou- 
isiana, article 35. 

This is slavery, as it now exists, in some of these States. Does the Bible 
sanction if? I answer, nowhere, in no manner. The Bible condemns it to- 
tally, absolutely, and in every essential feature of it. The Decalogue deliv- 
ered on Mount Sinai, by the infinite God, condemns it ; and I see not how 
any person can keep and carry out these ten commandments, and support 
this system of bondage. A species of servitude did prevail among the Jews, 
in the days of the patriarchs ; but that servitude was liberty itself, compar- 
ed with American slavery. Those who were held to service then, were pro- 
tected in their persons — in their social relations — in their religious priv- 
ileges — in all their essential rights. And if they were Jews, their servitude 
terminated at the end of six years ; if they were not Jews, it terminated in 
the year of jubilee, which came around every fiftieth year. For a Hebrew 
to steal one of his brethren, or to make merchandise of him, or to steal any 
man, and sell him, or hold him in bonds, was a crime of the highest enor- 
mity, and punishable with death. 

" Moreover, God said, thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped 
from his master unto thee ; he shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place whiah 
he shall choose, in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best." 

Slavery existed in Greece, as Homer has told us ; but highly-colored as 
his Asiatic pictures of domestic life and domestic slavery were, he shows that 
it was only captives taken in war that were slaves. Moreover, slaves at 
Sparta, and Corinth, and Athens, were under the protection of law. If used 
severely, an Athenian slave could take refuge from the cruelty of his master 
in the Temple of Theseus. 

Slavery existed at Rome, too ; but Roman slaves could acquire property, 
and enjoy many legal rights. If sold, husband and wife, parent and child, 
could not be separated. There was no bar to emancipation ; and the slave, 



14 

vrhcn emancipated, became at once a citizen. The slavery of Greece and 
Rome -was freedom itself, compared Avith American slavery. Besides, Grecian 
and Roman slavery Avere in keeping with the iron heathenism of those times. 
American slavery exists in the nineteenth century, amid all the light, improve- 
ment, and knowledge, of this advanced period of the world ; and it exists in a 
nation, the embodiment of whose organic law is equality and liberty for all 
men. Slavery exists here, while it has ceased to exist in most other nations ; 
and it exists here in a more cruel and relentless form, than it ever assumed 
elsewhere, since creation's dawn. The ai)ology offered for its existence here, 
is, that the cultivation of a great staple requires it. I do not see the force of 
the a])Oiogy. Cotton can be cultivated twenty-five per cent, cheaper with free 
than with slave labor. If it were not so, sooner than hold in bondage a fellow- 
man, entitled, equally with myself, to the immunities of a man, I would readily 
fall back where we were when Jay's treaty with England was made, in which 
the cotton trade was not deemed worthy of notice. 

Mr. Chairman : American slavery is in direct antagonism, not only to the 
premises on which rest the Declaration and the Constitution, but to all the 
great principles of the ethics of the Bible. While it is congenial with 
nothing in our political principles, it is a perpetual reproach to our professions, 
both of freedom and of Christianity. As gentlemen have appealed to the 
Word of God, in support of the institution, I hesitate not to face them on 
that magna et maxima charter of human rights and privileges. The spirit of 
the Mosaic code, and of the Christian code — the spirit of the whole book is 
repugnant to slavery — is destructive of slavery : it is the spirit of universal 
freedom, and therefore the genius of universal emancipation. The great law 
of the Saviour — requiring every man to love his neighbor as himself — and that, 
also, which requires us "to do to others as we would have others do to us," 
are ap))licable to Africans, as well as to Anglo-Saxons. These laws of the 
great Founder of Christianity are yet binding. If heeded and applied, they 
will cut up human slavery — root and branch — here, and everywhere. In ac- 
complishing the grand design of his earthly mission, Jesus Christ did not give 
his instructions the aspect of a treasonable conspiracy against the power of 
Rome. He taught a system of truth, involving principles, the inevitable result 
of which, so far as they are applied, Avill subvert every cufitom, and every do- 
mestic institution, at variance with the purest liberty and the highest glory of 
man. These principles are in direct opposition to American slavery, and will 
overthrow it Avherever they are adopted. 

Mr. Chairman : American slavery assumes, that the relation of master and 
slave is not the relation that exists between man and man, but that it is the 
relation that exists between a man and a mule ; that the master has rights that 
the slave cannot claim ; and that a slave has no rights at all, except as they 
are merged in those of the master. Now, these assumptions are gratuitous 
and monstrous. They are .entirely annihilated by the principles taught in 
both Testaments — especially the New. The Son of God teaches, that all men 
have a common origin — a common apostacy — common rights — a common des- 
tiny — and need a common redemption. Acting under his instructions, you can 
never make a slave, nor retain a slave. Whenever and wherever those in- 
structions are adopted, American slavery will cease. 

Who can estimate the importance of their adoption and application, at the 
present time — in this, our republican country — a country, in size equal to the 
whole of Europe — Russia excepted ; and half as large as the British Empire, 
including all her colonies in Europe, Africa, Asia, and America; a country, 
extending from the great Gulf on the south, to the Lakes, in the region of tlie 



15 

highest habitable latitude, on the north, and stretching across the entire 
continent, from ocean to ocean — including the greater and better part of all 
the habitable lands on the earth, within the northern temperate zone — and 
furnishing, as De Tocqueville justly said, " the most magnificent dwelling- 
place for man, to be found on the globe." 

Our Southern friends urge us to go home, and put an end to abolitionism, 
and restore harmony to the country. As well might they bid us stop the 
waters of Niagara, or the rolling planets, or to quench the light of the sun. 
So long as nature's laws operate, and the God of nature moves forward the 
solar system, those waters will fall — those planets will roll — that sun will 
shine ; and so long will the great law of liberty and equality be in force, work- 
ing out its beneficent results, and no human effort can avert its influence. 

Slavery is in opposition to truth. However it triumphs for a season, it can- 
not long predominate. 

'' Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again ; 
The immortal years of God are hers." 

Mr. Chairman : The present is a crisis for constitutional and righteous 
action — for a calm, firm, and comprehensive avowal of the great principles 
of freedom and justice ; principles which are deeply wrought into the hearts 
of the people — the great heart of the nation. It is no proper time — no fit 
occasion — for compromises — for compromises of liberty with slavery — of 
right with wrong. As an honest man, and the humble representative of a 
constituency, in the midst of whom are the Rock of Plymouth and the graves 
of such pioneers of liberty and justice as Carver, and Bradford, and Brew- 
ster, and Winslow, and Standish — I cannot consent to peril the rights of my 
fellow men, nor to put in jeopardy the highest and dearest interests of my coun- 
try, by a league with American slavery. Were I to consent, I should do vio- 
lence to my own feelings, and, as I doubt not, to the feelings of those by whose 
favor I occupy a seat on this floor. Sooner than do either, " let my right 
hand forget her cunning, and let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." 
Our Constitution, embodying, confessedly, the best form of civil government 
ever framed, (a Government that has existed a twenty-seventh part of the 
Christian chronology, and an eighty-fourth part of the period of man's abode 
on earth,) seems equally fitted for thirteen or thirty, or thrice thirty States, 
provided the original design of it be adhered to. Let that design never be 
overlooked by any act of legislation in this hall — let it be wrought into every 
measure — let it be inscribed on every law. Then shall this Government 
stand while these marble pillars abide,* and this land shall be the glory of all 
hinds, and a light for all nations. 



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